Huge tasks await Ledzokuku Krowor Assembly… AMA inheritance of demolishing, getting residents to comply with bye-laws

The newly-commissioned Ledzokuku Krowo Municipal Assembly is faced with a huge task to accomplish, continuing from where the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) left.

It would be recalled that the AMA started with the demolishing of unauthorized structures in the metropolis, but could not deliver on its promise to rid the city of unauthorized structures and buildings on waterways.

The Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly, which has its first Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) as Ebenezer Adjei Osekre, is likely to bedeviled with the problem of demolishing and getting its residents comply with the Municipality bye-laws.

A tour around the two towns, which fall under the municipality, Teshie and Nungua, reveals that there are a lot of developmental projects to be implemented.

Suburbs like Nungua Boade's roads are not motorable, and there are no drains, with the trenches on the shoulders of the road, now a breeding place for mosquitoes.

There are buildings in the two towns, which need to demolished, to pave way for the construction of either a major or minor road to ease the transportation problems of the constituents.

The poor drainage system in Teshie is another story. With the onset of the rains, residents of Teshie Camp 2 would have their problems compounded with flooding and muddy roads.

Sources close to the Municipal Assembly reveal that it is battling with the demarcation of new boundaries and the putting up of sign posts.

According to the source, this would help in revenue mobilization, to boost the municipal authority's finances.

Encroachment on public lands is another problem, which is confronting the new assembly, since some people are selling lands meant for roads and other social amenities.

The source said government subvention, for newly-created districts, should be increased to enable the assembly deliver. Another major problem is the fact that the former assemblies, under which the newly-created one fell - Tema Municipal Assembly and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly - are still collecting revenue meant for the new assembly, in some parts of Teshie and Nungua.

Touching on the location of the compost site at the Teshie Estates, the source noted that it attracted a lot of controversial law suits against the then assembly, and the new assembly has now inherited the problem, as the residents want the compost site relocated.

He said the site was generating a nauseating smell and flies, making life unbearable for people living in the area, adding that there are times when people have to vacate their homes, because of the thick smoke emanating as a result of burning.

A visit to the site by the paper, last Saturday afternoon, revealed that residents in the neighborhood were going through hell, due to the location of the site.

Sam Foli, a resident who lives directly opposite the site, said he has been inhaling smoke instead of fresh air, and efforts to get the assembly to relocate the site has fall on deaf ears.

A Chronicle check with an assembly member, who pleaded anonymity, said the compost site was specifically for the manufacturing of manure, but the machines broke down a long time ago and have not been repaired, yet the dumping of refuse from other parts of Accra was still going on.

According to the assembly member, the problem of refuse collection and dumping was something that would drain the assembly's resources, because solving the problem would at the same time create problems for other projects.

He called for more proactive measures in the collecting and dumping of refuse, to help the Assembly save money for other projects.

He said the assembly is now confronted with the problem of administrative structures, after its inauguration.

It is made up four elected-members and three government appointees, and they are yet to elect their presiding member.